Call For Submissions
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Key Focus
GUIDING THE FUTURE OF DATA GOVERNANCE
East Africa’s digital transformation is accelerating. Across the region, new data systems, registries, platforms, and emerging AI tools are reshaping governance, public services, and economic activity. At the same time, concerns about privacy, surveillance, exclusion, fragmented institutions, cross-border data flows, and the political economy of data are deepening.
The East Africa Data Governance Conference 2026 invites session proposals that confront this duality with honesty, intellect, and rigour.
We welcome contributors who can illuminate:
- how innovation is unfolding across the region,
- where accountability is lagging behind,
- what frameworks exist or are emerging,
- where tensions lie between rights, efficiency, and power, and
- what East Africa must build to ensure data systems serve people with integrity.
The call seeks sessions grounded in evidence, practice, lived experience, and clear-eyed analysis — not abstract ideals or celebratory narratives.
submit your session!
We welcome a range of session formats:
- Panels (60–75 minutes) — rigorous, moderated discussions with diverse perspectives.
- Workshops (90 minutes) — interactive, hands-on sessions with tangible outputs or co-created ideas.
- Lightning Talks (20 minutes) — sharp, provocative insights or case studies.
- Demonstrations (30–45 minutes) — show-and-tell of tools, datasets, infrastructures, or analytical methods.
- Roundtables (60 minutes) — closed, high-level deliberations among policymakers or experts.
- Dialogue Circles (45–60 minutes) — community or citizen-centred discussions.
Sessions should avoid excessive PowerPoint and instead encourage engagement, debate, or exploration.
Session Formats
Submit your session proposal indicating the type of session format (panel, workshop, lightning talk, demonstration, roundable or dialogue circle).
Submission Deadline
- 15th January 2026 by 1700 Hrs (GMT+3).
WHY THIS CALL MATTERS
This conference departs from the narrative of “leadership” and embraces the complexity of East Africa’s digital moment. It is a space for:
- examining contradictions,
- mapping power,
- exposing risks,
- showcasing innovation
- grounding governance in rights,
- challenging assumptions, and
- proposing practical, credible pathways forward.
We invite session proposals that move the conversation beyond surface-level conversations about “digital transformation” and into the deeper terrain of ownership, sovereignty, ethics, accountability, and value — the core of the Concept Note.
This call is for people and institutions who want to shape the architecture of East Africa’s digital future.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
We seek sessions that are:
Analytical – Grounded in evidence, research, practice, or lived experience.
Honest – Acknowledging gaps, tensions, failures, and risks, not just successes.
Regionally grounded – Reflective of East African realities — policy, culture, markets, politics.
Multi-stakeholder – Featuring government, civil society, technologists, private sector, or citizens.
Practical – Offering insights, tools, strategies, or frameworks that people can use.
Forward-looking – Imagining new models, new governance structures, and new systems of trust.
Courageous – Not shying away from difficult debates on power, control, surveillance, or misuse.
This is not a conference for generic digital transformation talks.
It is a space for deep work.
Evaluation Criteria
Proposals will be assessed on:
- Alignment with a pillar
- Clarity and depth of ideas
- Relevance to East Africa
- Originality and courage
- Evidence and grounding
- Diversity of voices
- Potential impact
- Practical usefulness
” Data governance is not just about protecting data; it’s about empowering a future where data drives positive change and innovation. “